PHILOSOPHERS SAY INNER contradictions are a natural thing; they lie within the core of the human condition. I’d add that from the imbroglio of everyday paradoxes, there will always emerge one overriding paradox – one that defines the course of our lives without us even being aware of it.

The overriding paradox of my life began one autumn day, when I was 12 years old and stepped out of an El Al plane at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, along with my parents and two youngest brothers. I remember being dazzled by camera flashes, surrounded by media and confronted by a bunch of girls about my age, waving signs at me: “Welcome.”